KUSI GM McKinnon Admits Key Point In Sandra Maas Pay-Equity Complaint

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego

February 17, 2023

If Sandra Maas wins her pay-equity lawsuit against KUSI-TV, the pivotal moment could be pinned to 3:40 p.m. Thursday.

That’s when her lead attorney, Josh Gruenberg, asked KUSI president and general manager Mike McKinnon Jr. whether the duties and responsibilities of Maas and former co-anchor Allen Denton were “substantially similar” under their contracts.

“They are,” McKinnon said under oath.

Cross examination of McKinnon by KUSI lawyers won’t come until Tuesday, when the trial resumes in downtown Superior Court, and the defendants are days away from presenting their own witnesses.

But if Denton is judged by the jury to be the only “comparator” in the case, KUSI’s fate may be sealed on the equal-pay-for-equal-work element of the trial.

Thursday also saw testimony and documents proving a wide pay disparity over time — with Denton making $250,000 to Maas’ $180,000 in her final year, 2019.

McKinnon was vague on how much he knew about the state’s Equal Pay Act, saying: “In general, not exactly” and “I would be speculating if I said anything.”

But he had a vivid memory of Maas asking that she be paid more like a Chanel than a Coach.

(McKinnon at first thought Maas was referring to perfume instead of the ritzy handbag maker. “We kind of both laughed about that,” he said. “It was kind of a fun conversation.”)

The point of that face-to-face meeting was Maas seeking pay approximating Denton’s. She sought $215,000 during her 2018 contract talks.

Meanwhile, an alternate juror took the place of an original male juror who said his wife had just tested positive for COVID. (He had no symptoms but was excused for safety’s sake.) Frazier picked the alternate’s name out of a “lottery” jar .

That leaves only one alternate juror — a woman who listened as carefully as her fellow “judges of fact.”

Before the jury filed into Department 65 at 10:24 a.m., lawyers for both sides fought over a potential expert witness — whom KUSI sought to block.

USD Law School graduate Debra Reilly, a veteran investigator on Human Resources issues, underwent 1 1/2 hours of questioning about her review of KUSI’s HR Department.

Quizzed first by Maas lawyer Pamela Vallero, Reilly said KUSI HR director Sally Luck did nothing in response to the Maas pay-equity complaint.

Luck “already made up her mind (about the issue) rather than [ask] questions,” Reilly said. Under industry standards, Luck should have looked for “bonafide” reasons for the Maas-Denton pay gap. Several exist.

“If not, then there’s a problem,” she said. “She didn’t do even the first step” — interviewing the parties involved.

In any case, KUSI should have picked an “impartial person” who wouldn’t fear retaliation for conducting a pay investigation, Reilly said — not someone with a conflict of interest.

Moreover, KUSI didn’t even comply with its own employee-handbook policies, Reilly said in front of 20 courtroom spectators, including former CBS8 reporter Liz Purcell and veteran videographer Charles Landon, also of KFMB.

Marisa Janine-Page, a KUSI lawyer, called Maas’ email on the pay disparity “a purported complaint.”

She asked Reilly her sources for defining Equal Pay Act violations.

“I’m not testifying what the statute was, but (what) the complaint was,” Reilly replied.

Janine-Page asked about Reilly’s sources for how to conduct a pay-equity probe.

Reilly said the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had guidelines on how to look into discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

The KUSI lawyer challenged Reilly to defend her opinion that retaliation (claimed in the Maas lawsuit) was involved in this case.

“Retaliation and discrimination can look exactly the same,” Reilly said. And continuing to discriminate against a female employee over pay amounts to retaliation.

“I get retained all the time to investigate claims of discrimination over … years,” she added. “Employers I work for want to know the truth.”

Janine-Page said: “You have zero experience hiring for a broadcast station.”

Reilly replied: “My testimony is not going to be about hiring.”

In the end, Judge Frazier said Reilly was more than qualified to say that KUSI didn’t meet HR industry standards on investigating pay-disparity claims — but barred Reilly from testifying on “willful violations,” causes of the pay gap or the station’s motivations.

“That’s the jury’s province,” he said.

During resumed questioning of KUSI’s McKinnon, attorney Gruenberg pressed hard on whether the GM saw Maas unhappy. He mainly said he hadn’t.

Gruenberg also sought to portray Maas as hard-working and helpful to young writers, spending time outside the station working on projects or doing community service events.

He also suggested that Denton wasn’t as sharp as he should have been — alleging that sports director Paul Rudy said Denton had “lost something off his fastball” in his final years,” and would “flub lines” and mispronounce words.

And Gruenberg noted that KUSI paid for four round-trip tickets to Tennessee so Denton could visit his wife, an example of more favorable treatment.

McKinnon said he didn’t look into the equal pay issue because “I know what people were making. I didn’t need to investigate.”

Gruenberg asked McKinnon why, in the months after his January 2020 deposition, he revised his testimony several times — and risk his veracity before the jury.

In the morning, without the jury present, KUSI lawyer Ken Fitzgerald asked the judge to prevent another jury influencing behavior.

He said he’d noticed that Maas and lawyer Josh Pang had been “very demonstrative” during the trial — nodding or shaking their heads during testimony.

Judge Frazier said such nonverbal communication could be regarded as a form of testimony or argument — and jurors could misconstrue what the heads moves meant.

“I have noticed that,” Frazier said. “I ask … to refrain from doing that.”

Maas didn’t stop completely, though. She just shook her head slower, with less range of movement.

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